Sacred Heart Diet
Quick weight loss program, similar to the Cabbage Soup Diet.
BACKGROUND
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The Sacred Heart Diet is a 7-day eating plan that is supposed to shed pounds quickly by consuming a special soup made of broth and vegetables as your main source of food. According to the diet, during the seven days, you can lose up to 10 pounds or more. Each day has specific guidelines for which foods and drinks to consume. There is a thorough list of restricted foods and beverages, so that you'll know exactly what you can and can't consume.
This diet supposedly comes from the Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital, although reports on the Web refute this. It is used for overweight heart patients in order to lose weight rapidly, usually prior to surgery. In addition to losing weight quickly, it is intended to also wash your body of impurities while giving you a surge of energy without the ingestion of caffeine or other energy-enhancing products. This diet is also sometimes referred to as the Cabbage Soup Diet.
PRO
- There are notable health benefits from avoiding certain processed foods like refined sugars and flours
- Does not call for any funky supplements or herbal concoctions
- Reliance on the diet's consumption of vegetables, fresh fruit and lean protein is beneficial to one's health and can possibly aid in weight loss also.
- Its one-week time frame is manageable for individuals with a strong will power and who want to lose weight quickly
- Supports exercise
CON
- Diet may be restrictive for some
- No scientific evidence that this soup will actually burn calories
- Once you've completed it, you are on your own to reestablish your eating routine
- Does not give any guidelines for how to sustain long-term weight loss
- Given its strictness, the individual may run the risk of having a gorge fest when Day 7 is completed
- Sacred Heart Hospital and The American Heart Association deny any relationship with the diet
DIET and NUTRITION
The soup, which is made from 11 ingredients, is the supposed magic pill of The Sacred Heart Diet. The soup includes canned tomatoes, mushrooms, green beans, bell peppers, celery, beef stock and vegetable juice. You can find the complete Sacred Heart Diet Recipe here.
For the seven days of this diet, you will eliminate bread, white sugar, alcohol, fried foods, and carbonated beverages
The Diet has specific guidelines for each day that you must adhere to in order to reap the supposed benefits.
Each day, you will consume your sacred soup in addition to certain kinds of fruit, certain allowable beverages, protein and other cooked or canned vegetables. For instance, on Day One, you may eat as much soup as you want to as well as fruit except for bananas. On this first day, you can only drink coffee, black tea, water or unsweetened juice without milk or sugar added to the beverages On Day Two, you can have soup, vegetables and a baked potato with a small pat of butter for dinner. On Day Four, you may eat at least 3 bananas, and drink as much skim milk and soup as you can. The diet continues for the following three days in which you add lean red meat or chicken and still continue to eat the soup.
Abiding by the diet's guidelines is intended to yield the results you are looking for.
EXERCISE
There are no specific exercise recommendations for The Sacred Heart Diet other than to follow your usual exercise routine by getting in some form of exercise on most days of the week.
CONCLUSION
Albeit it is a very restrictive diet, The Sacred Heart Diet is a commendable eating plan given its reliance on vegetables, fruits and lean protein. It is clearly high in fiber, nutrients and minerals. It is similar to many low carbohydrate diets out there for its avoidance of refined sugars, flour of any sort, fried foods and added fat. Although there is no scientific proof that the sacred soup which you ingest every day is a magic pill to melt off the pounds, it is a great way to feel full and to get in more than your five veggies a day. But its reliance on veggies and fruit might give some stomach cramps if your system is not used to this way of eating. Since this such a one-shot punch to lose weight, it might be that you gain the weight back just as quickly or even more quickly as you lost it.
And do make a pact with yourself before starting this diet that on Day 8, when The Sacred Diet officially ends, you don't hightail it to McDonalds and order 3 double cheeseburgers and 2 super-sized fries. Do be gentle on your gut as you acclimate it back to the foods that you normally consume: order the Happy Meal.
Common Misspellings
sacrid, saecred, hart, scared
Featured Diets
Related Diets: Cabbage Soup Diet, Juice Diet, Maple Syrup Diet, Purple Diet
User Feedback
(Page 16 of 23, 442 total comments)Kayl
Starting weight 172lbs with a BMI 23 (Ithink) I am over 6ft in height though so this is a normal weight for someone of my height but i want to get rid of my wobble bits hehe.
posted Jan 20th, 2009 7:47 amDay 1 of the diet and I have to say I'm enjoying it!
the soup is delicious however as it is quite chunky it is hard to get out of my fermoss (sp) at work so i might try liquidifying tomorrows portion.
I am a fruit bat so today has gone well
I don't feel hungry (so far)
and surprisingly i don't feel tired seeing as i have cut out coffee!
I'm a bit worried about later on tonight though because I'm a night time eater
but I promise Mysekf I'm going to stay strong.
Wish me luck!
will post again to keep everyone updated :]
ciao for now x
Allison
So I pureed the soup and it is so much better. I am actually craving it during the day instead of dreading it. And the best new is that I have lost 10 lbs so far. This is my fourth day and I am really not hungry. I hope the next time I do the diet it works half as well.
posted Jan 15th, 2009 2:44 pmAllison
Today is my second day and if it weren't for the baked potato tonight I don't think I could do it. And this morning I woke up and was 3.5 lbs lighter so that is keeping me motivated. I am already sick of the soup. I like drinking the broth so I think I am going to puree the soup and just gulp it down. I have a horrible headache. I am sure it is from lack of caffiene. I desperately want a diet dr. pepper. Has anyone kept drinking diet soda during the diet and it still worked?
posted Jan 13th, 2009 2:48 pmAndie
This is a starvation diet. You'll lose weight but gain it all back and it isn't good for your body.
posted Jan 13th, 2009 11:49 amcassie
Its Monday and my 2nd day on the diet!!... So far so good!!..Soup and veggies today and a baked potato for dinner!..I bought salad to mix in with my veggies and i was wondering if we could have any dressing?..oh and can we have avacados?
posted Jan 12th, 2009 12:15 pmKK
I started this yesterday. So far, so good. I have low blodd sugar issues and usually dieting is horrendous - even one day - but I am pleasantly surprised at how good I feel. I am substituting the soup with Campbells Select Harvest Garden Veg ... I read somewhere that it would work the same .... does anyone know if that is true? I have already lost a little over a pound in one day. Peeing a LOT which must be a good thing ... ?
posted Jan 12th, 2009 11:16 amcassie
Well here i am!..I just made to soup today and plan to start this diet tomorrow!! wish me luck and if theres anything i need to know feel free to send me a message:)
posted Jan 10th, 2009 8:22 pmgood luck to us all!!
Bob
Lost 17 lbs in two weeks. After three days; slept like a baby. No toxins! Good healthy food.
posted Jan 9th, 2009 11:36 pmAngelina
It's a fast way to lose weight....first hand experience. I lost about 10 lbs...felt better...and was conscience after wards.
posted Jan 7th, 2009 7:36 pmDuring the last few days I was going nuts because I was lacking my normal intake (bread, pastas, alcohol, etc.). I know for some it may be impossible to survive a 7 day strict diet. I figured as long as I do it once a month, this won't seem so much like a diet, but a life style change.
Connie
I am starting the sacred diet today and the soup is so good to me and I don't even like onions and green peppers. I think if I don't loose any pounds I will be happy still because this will help me get back on track to eating healthy again. I don't see why I would loose any weight though because when I just started drinking more water and eating everything low fat or no fat I lost weight. I was at 218 and got down to 178 and then I gained back up to 191 and so I would like to loose about 40 pounds and I will be so happy.
posted Jan 7th, 2009 12:27 pmPS. Let me just say I have only eaten one bowl of the soup for breakfast and I already have been to the bathroom twice. So you def. need to be expecting to do alot of that.
Brandi
Hello Sacred Heart Dieters! I wanted to reach out and personally invite you to join our new community here at DietsInReview.com. It's free and just takes a minute. You'll be able to save your favorite content on the site, as well as direct message one another. We hope this will better suit the needs you have as some of our most active readers. Happy New Year! - Brandi
posted Jan 6th, 2009 10:25 amJoin our new Diet Community Today!
rsnelson
In response to Amanda that posted on Jan 1... I too have lost my "sex drive" after gaining weight after having 2 kids also! I think its just because I'm not happy with myself or my body image or the numbers on the scale, so then I think that my husband thinks the same way! Just lowers my self esteem! But I just saw this diet today and plan on starting it with my husband and my mom! Should be exciting to see how it goes! Good luck to everyone that has a New Year Resolution to lose weight in 2009!
posted Jan 5th, 2009 12:11 pmYana K.
Ha, i guess I forgot to publish how much I lost :) I lost 5 pounds on one week of this diet...
posted Jan 3rd, 2009 1:16 pmAmanda
I am going to start this diet in the next couple of days. I have a couple other things to pick up from the store. I used to be a size 5 when I was in high school which was 6 years ago. Two kids later Im a 12 and 35 lbs heavier. Im hoping to get back to at least a size 8. I havent heard anyone say this, but putting on 35 lbs made me completely lose my sex drive. So Im hoping this will make me healthier but bring back my sex drive. Anyone else have that problem?
posted Jan 1st, 2009 7:20 pmI'll write again when my week is finished and how I did. I cant wait!! Im really excited to lose some weight.
Amanda
I am going to start this diet in the next couple of days. I have a couple other things to pick up from the store. I used to be a size 5 when I was in high school which was 6 years ago. Two kids later Im a 12 and 35 lbs heavier. Im hoping to get back to at least a size 8. I havent heard anyone say this, but putting on 35 lbs made me completely lose my sex drive. So Im hoping this will make me healthier but bring back my sex drive. Anyone else have that problem?
posted Jan 1st, 2009 7:19 pmI'll write again when my week is finished and how I did. I cant wait!! Im really excited to lose some weight.
Anastasia
So far I am on my third day of the diet and I can tell a difference. I don't weigh myself because I don't want to discourage myself while I diet and exercise, but when I sit down I can tell a difference, as can I when I exercise and breathe. It's a super hard diet to follow but it seems like it does what it's said to do =)
posted Dec 31st, 2008 11:32 pmAlicia
To: 007 bond gurl
posted Dec 31st, 2008 11:56 amAnd
Mindi
Try to remember that the best time to weigh yourself is in the morning, because you have had time to digest your food. My friend brought it to my attention that when you eat a meal, your weight can go up as much as 5lbs immediately because you just added more to your mass. Once that food digests, you will know you real weight. And Believe it or not, clothes make a difference. Try to go for an entire week without weighing and then weight yourself the morning after the 7th day. I always weight myself wearing the same thin house coat and always in the morning.
You will definitely be discouraged if you eat and weigh yourself immediately. If you want my professional advice, you can check with your doctor. I am only writing from my own experience.
Alicia
To ggggg,
posted Dec 31st, 2008 11:40 amI did this diet and told my friend about it. She started it too but she found that it was very time consuming to cut all those vegetables, because she and her husband did it together and a pot of soup only lasted for about two or three days. She tried the Vegetable Beef Barley Soup by Progresso and she had the same results.
I then started buying Progresso soup instead of making it and it works the same, so I donā??t make the soup anymore and I donā??t think I ever will. I quickly got tired of the Vegetable Barley Soup so I started buying all different kinds of light Progresso Soup and there has been no difference in my results. I definitely recommend that you buy some soup in the can if you get tired of making it.
Just remember to get light soup. I only buy the Progresso soups that are worth 0 or 1 Weight Watchers Points. You can also buy Campbell Select Harvest Soups. They are healthy and actually have fewer calories than Progresso, but both are good.
Just follow the diet exactly as it is written only substituting the homemade soup for the light can soup. Also, drink tons of water to balance the salt in the Progresso Soup.
One more thing; there are other brands of healthy soups out there like Healthy Choice and a few others. Just try the different ones and determine what is best for you.
artjet
I absolutely cannot stand bananas, it makes me sick the thought of eating one...can you replace the bananas with another high protein food??
posted Dec 30th, 2008 12:28 pmAlicia
So far, this diet has helped me lose 34 pounds in less than two months. It is a great diet to help you reach your weight goals whether it is 50 lbs or 150 lbs.
posted Dec 30th, 2008 12:00 pmI have had people say to me that I will gain the weight back as soon as I get off the diet because it is a crash diet. It is true, you can potentially gain the weight back when you get off the Sacred Heart Diet because it is a strict regimen that tells you exactly what to eat and when to eat it, so that your body quickly drops the weight. When you stop following this regimen, you may not know what to eat and weight gain can occur.
When you finish the diet it is important not to go crazy at fast food places or with junk food. It is definitely possible to keep all the weight of that you lose. The only way to do this is to learn new healthier eating habits to adapt for the rest of your life. Weight Watchers is a good program to help you with this.
While Sacred Heard will help you lose more weight at a faster pace, you can only have a limited number of foods. But with Weight Watchers, you can go to any restaurant and eat as long you follow the guide, and this is something you can use for the rest or your life to maintain the phenomenal results you get with the Sacred Heart Diet.
Oh yes, on the Sacred Heart Diet, you should take a multivitamin and maybe find some protein water. Special K has a good brand that I love to drink.